Waltham is a legendary American - Swiss precision watch making brand, which has been setting modern standards for the production of clocks and watches, and has over one thousand patents in the sector. The American Waltham Watch Company, founded in 1850 in Massachusetts, created Waltham International SA in Switzerland in 1954 and since 1957, all Waltham high-end watches have been manufactured on the premises in Neuchâtel/Switzerland, and are 100% Swiss Made. History: In 1850, Aaron Dennisson, Edvard Howard and David Davis founded Waltham Watch Company in Roxbury (USA). In 1854 The Company settled in the town of Waltham in the State of Massachusetts, and became the world's first industrial watchmaking "manufacture". Early watches were produced around 1850. They were actually marked "Howard, Davis & Dennison - Boston". The new company struggled early on as it coped with higher then anticipated manufacturing costs. They also had problems making the interchangeable parts system actually work. Although in theory the parts should have been identical once produced, they found that each part was a little different from the next. The machines weren't exact. It took the company months to produce watches that were actually no better than those already on the market. Howard would eventually perfect and patent his precision watch making machines and the company was almost ready for production. In 1851, with the factories complete, the American Horology Company was named. By 1852 the first watches were completed. The first 17 watches were marked "The Warren Mfg Co". Watches 18 through 100 were named "Warren Boston". The next 800 were named "Samuel Curtis". These early watches are extremely rare and very valuable. The name was changed to "Boston Watch Company" in 1853. In 1854 a factory was built in Waltham Mass. The watches that were manufactured here (1001-5000) were named "Dennison, Howard, & Davis" as earlier stated, as well as "P.S.Bartlett", and "C.T. Parker". Boston Watch Company failed in 1857. The company was sold at auction to Appleton Tracy & Co. in May 1857. In January 1859 the Waltham Improvement Comany and Appleton, Tracy & Company merged to the "American Waltham Watch Company". By 1860 the country was in Civil War, and the company was in trouble again. Production ground to a halt. With a war going on, finding a market for their watches was becoming a serious problem. The company decided to downsize to the lowest possible level to keep the factory open andit worked! In 1870 Waltham created the "Crescent Street" high-precision Railway watch. In 1912 Waltham launched its first feminine wristwatch, the "Lady Waltham". In 1954, over a century after its foundation, Waltham relocated to Switzerland, the leading watch manufacturing country. In 1966 Waltham successfully launched the world's first and only atmosphere proof self-winding mechanical watch in Japan, enabling durable chronometer precision. "Waltham Watch Company" went out of business in the late 1950''s to early 1960's. In 1957 they planned to merge with the "Waltham Precision Instrument Company" and the merge was completed March 1960. In the mid 60's the remaining assets were purchased by the Dextra Corporation which failed in 1983. In 1987 Waltham began the manufacturing of watches with solid gold. Today, 'Waltham International SA' manufactures and distributes Waltham Swiss Made watches in the luxury Japanese watch market. Since 2011 the majority of the company has been taken over by the American entrepreneur Antonio DiBenedetto who is now the current President and CEO. In over 100 years of existence the factory produced 40 million jeweled watches, plus clocks, speedometers, compasses, time fuses for bombs and other precision instruments. Comments are closed.
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Old Time WatchesI enjoy collecting mechanical (manual wind and automatic) and early electric and quartz timepieces. I take great pleasure in researching and writing about the companies and people that created these beautiful watches. PF
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